Holy everyday life

Blessed Albino Luciani, John Paul I. Another Pope on the altars. He remained on the throne of Peter only a handful of days - thirty-three - in the summer of an annus horribilis, the 1978 of the death of Moro, of Paul VI, finally of his successor himself.

Albino Luciani, patriarch of Venice, enters the conclave without suspecting the unexpected joke of the reverend cardinals and the Holy Spirit. He is not among the most popular candidates. Very few would bet on him. After the tragic and luminous pontificate of Giovanni Battista Montini, Paul VI, the Church anxiously awaits a new Peter. Young, robust and with a powerful voice. Leader who leads the Christian people in the desert of a world tempted to do without God. A Moses for the declining twentieth century and the dawn of the twenty-first.

White smoke reveals the novelty to the world. Albino Luciani appears in white clothes. It's up to him to take the helm of the boat, guide it in the storms that threaten to sink it. Are those shoulders too fragile? Too shy that smile? Is his motto and program too modest, humilitas, humility? He immediately wins hearts. With a smile and the Venetian language. With simple preaching, authentic gestures, spontaneous affability. In a few days he strips the authority and solemnity of the pontificate of ancient and useless trappings.

He goes straight to the point: the first three Wednesday audiences are dedicated to faith, hope and charity, the cornerstones. He talks about it in his own way, using poets and children, to get straight to the hearts. A man of many and varied readings, he knows how to draw from them the most suitable words for understanding a world that shows the signs of an irreversible process called secularization. Albino Luciani's pontificate lasted only a little over a month - thirty-three days. Too little to reap fruit. Enough for planting. He leaves many anguished questions. What would he have done, said, changed, renewed? How would he respond to challenges? What trips would he have made, following the example of his predecessor? What did God mean to the world with Albino Luciani? Then a Pope would come from Poland, and he would steer the boat over the edge of the new century and millennium. Almost twenty-seven years at the helm. So why that fleeting, illusory apparition? The designs of God, the fantasy of the Spirit. Now that he is blessed, we know. He had to show us the goal of holiness. And thirty-three days was enough

Renzo Agasso

NP Ottobre 2022